Thermodynamic modelling of supercritical water gasification: investigating the effect of biomass composition to aid in the selection of appropriate feedstock material.

A process model developed in Aspen Plus®, was used for the thermodynamic modelling of supercritical water gasification (SCWG) using a wide variety of biomass materials as feedstock. The influence of the composition of the biomass material (in terms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen content) on various performance indicators (such as gas yields, cold gas efficiency, calorific value of product gas and heat of reaction), were determined at various temperatures (600, 700 and 800°C) and biomass feed concentrations (5, 15 and 25wt.%).

Impact of the lignocellulosic material on fast pyrolysis yields and product quality.

The paper describes the fast pyrolysis conversion of lignocellulosic materials inside a bubbling fluidized bed. The impact of biopolymers distribution in the biomass feed, namely hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin, on the yields and properties of pyrolytic bio-oils and chars was investigated. Although it is not possible to deconvoluate chemical phenomena from transfer phenomena using bubbling fluidized bed reactors, the key role of hemicelluloses in biomass feedstocks was illustrated by: (i) its influence on the production of pyrolytic water, (ii) its impact on the production of organics, apparently due to its bonding relationship with the lignin and (iii) its ability to inhibit the development of chars porosity, while the cellulose appeared to be the precursor for the microporous character of the biochars.

Amino acid supplementation, controlled oxygen limitation and sequential double induction improves heterologous xylanase production by Pichia stipitis.

Heterologous endo-beta-1,4-xylanase was produced by Pichia stipitis under control of the hypoxia-inducible PsADH2-promoter in a high-cell-density culture. After promoter induction by a shift to oxygen limitation, different aeration rates (oxygen transfer rates) were applied while maintaining oxygen-limitation. Initially, enzyme production was higher in oxygen-limited cultures with high rates of oxygen transfer, although the maximum xylanase activity was not significantly influenced.

Amino acid supplementation improves heterologous protein production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in defined medium.

Supplementation of a chemically defined medium with amino acids or succinate to improve heterologous xylanase production by a prototrophic Saccharomyces cerevisiae transformant was investigated. The corresponding xylanase production during growth on ethanol in batch culture and in glucose-limited chemostat culture were quantified, as the native ADH2 promoter regulating xylanase expression was derepressed under these conditions. The addition of a balanced mixture of the preferred amino acids, Ala, Arg, Asn, Glu, Gln and Gly, improved both biomass and xylanase production, whereas several other individual amino acids inhibited biomass and/or xylanase production.

Comparison of three expression systems for heterologous xylanase production by S. cerevisiae in defined medium.

The influence of the auxotrophic deficiencies of the host strain and expression vector selection on the production of a heterologous protein was investigated. Heterologous xylanase production by two prototrophic S. cerevisiae transformants, containing either a plasmid-based, YEp-type expression system or an integrative, YIp-type expression system, were compared with production by an auxotrophic transformant, containing an identical YEp-type expression system, in batch and continuous cultivation, using a chemically defined medium.